


Kabby Valentine Prompts

by TheBestTeacup



Category: The 100
Genre: All The Nice Things, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Kabby Holiday, Smut, Valentine's Day, prompts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-08
Updated: 2016-02-11
Packaged: 2018-05-18 23:05:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5946720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBestTeacup/pseuds/TheBestTeacup
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My collection of one-shots that go with the 7 days of Kabby Valentine Prompts</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Heart Trees

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter is an old story that was deleted and AO3 finally sent me the file to. I was able to update it, and clean it up just in time for this first prompt day! It actually fits it very well.

“This is soooo romantic.”

 

Looking up from the assigned math worksheet, Marcus furrowed his brow at the little girl seated at the table across from him, his eyes drifting down to the book she had open before her.

 

“Abby,” he hissed, looking towards where their teacher was helping David Miller with his work, “it isn’t reading time.”

 

“Psh,” she scoffed, tossing one of her braided pigtails over her shoulder, “I finished my sheet ten minutes ago. Ms. Harris won’t mind, now look!”

 

She held up the book for him to see the page she was looking at, and a quick glance at the words at the top told him it had something to do with earth studies. He looked at the picture she was pointing too, and tilted his head in confusion when he made out the image of a man carving a heart into what appeared to be a large tree.

 

“Why is he doing that?”

 

Abby rolled her eyes and pulled the book back, “He is doing it for a girl. So she knows he loves her.”

 

“Couldn’t he just _tell_ her?”

 

“Well yeah, but this is more symbolic.”

 

“Marcus shook his head and returned his attention to his worksheet, “Seems kinda silly to me.”

 

“That is because you don’t have a romantic bone in your body.”

 

“Abby, we are 10, we aren’t supposed to be worried about romance.”

 

She ignored his rationale, and leaned closer across the space between them, “So if you loved a girl, you wouldn’t do something like this to show her how you feel?”

 

“No, and you wanna know why?”

 

“Why?”

 

He leaned forward as well, so there were only a few inches between them, “Because first of all there are no trees on the Ark, and second, there are better ways to show you love someone.”

 

Before she could say another word, or he could loose his nerve, he closed the distance and pecked her lips quickly, causing her to gasp loudly in surprise.

He got a week of detention for his trouble, but the look on Abby’s face had been well worth it.

 

~~~

 

Today was the day.

 

Two weeks ago had been Abby’s fifteenth birthday, and Marcus had been spending that time trying to work up the nerve to give her the gift he had worked so hard on. It had been fourteen days of him struggling over how to go about giving it to her, and he decided enough was enough. Abby was his best friend, and he had no reason to be nervous about giving her something he knew she would love.

 

He went through classes that whole day, reminding himself over and over that what he was doing was not going to be a bad thing, and when dinner rolled around he was a ball of nervous energy as he dressed in his best shirt, and pants. His mom eyed him as he headed towards the cantina, the small gift in his shaky hand, but she mercifully didn’t say anything other than “Good luck.”

 

It seemed like the walk from his quarters to where his station took their meals lasted hours instead of the five minutes it actually took and by the time he reached the doorway he was about ready to turn tail and run. Then, just as the last of his nerves was giving out, he spotted Abby sitting at a nearby table and all was calm. He stood there watching as she tucked a long strand of hair behind her ear, her face scrunched in concentration as she read through a book that was in front of her. Finals were in a week, and Marcus shook his head in awe of the girl’s relentless study schedule.

 

Deciding she wouldn’t mind his interrupting her for a few minutes, Marcus took one last calming breath, and moved to step forward only to stop short when Jake Griffin plopped next to Abby, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. For a second he tried to tell himself that the blonde boy was just greeting Abby, but when they leaned in and kissed, Marcus’ heart gave a painful wrench.

 

Turning he ran back down the hallway towards his quarters, and slammed through the door, brushing some tears from his eyes. Vera, who had been just about to head to the cantina herself, jumped back a few inches, a look of shock on her face.

 

“Marcus, what on earth?”

 

He ignored her, and raced to his room, punching the wall as soon as the door slid shut behind him. Then he looked down at the object in his hand- a tree made out of scrap metal- and flung it at the window over his bunk. It bounced off the glass with a satisfying thunk, and landed, dented, at his feet.

 

Marcus stared down at the offensive object and the engraved heart that was now weirdly bent from the impact of his throw, and smiled bitterly.  Then he stomped on the miniature tree until it, the heart, and the initials within it were no more than a flattened piece of scrap.

 

~~~

“Do you trust me?”

 

Looking up from where she was taking inventory in the medical tent, Abby smiled questioningly at Marcus, tilting her head as she tried to decipher why he was asking such a ridiculous thing.

 

“Of course I trust you Marcus, why would you even ask?”

 

He stepped closer and tugged on the end of her ponytail playfully as he held up a black strip of fabric, “I just wanted to make sure, before I had you put this on.”

 

“What is it?”

 

“A blindfold.”

 

She arched a brow, and considered demanding more details, but then the look of hope on his face made her pause, and after a moment she turned her back to him slowly, waving at him to do as he pleased.

 

Within moments she was completely blinded as he finished tying the cloth off, and she gripped behind her to find his hand.

 

“Don’t worry sweetheart,” he whispered in her ear, grabbing her groping appendage and giving it a reassuring squeeze, “I have you.”

 

Gently he turned her, and she leaned into him as they began to walk…and walk…and walk. Her brow furrowed even more as she felt her feet move from the metal floor of medical, and onto the grassy terrain outside, only to shift a few minutes later to the rougher terrain of the woods that surrounded Arkadia.

 

“Are you leading me to my death councilor?” she quipped as he helped her maneuver over a fallen log, “Because I will have you know, I have declared that Raven will be chancellor if I were to perish.”

 

Marcus laughed, and kissed her head, not saying anything for a few more minutes, when he stopped their walk and slowly steered her to face a certain direction. He continued to stay silent as he removed the blindfold, and stepped away from her, and she was about to turn to see what he was up to when her eyes fell on the massive oak before her.

 

There, in the bark more than 30 hearts were carved, all with her and Marcus’ initials carved in them.

 

“What-“

 

She turned to face the man still standing behind her, her eyes burning as she gave him a questioning look.

 

“You said it was romantic.”

 

“That was 32 years ago Marcus, how can you possibly remember that?”

 

He reached out and took her hand, pulling her close to him, “How can I forget the first time I kissed the love of my life?”

 

Tears slipped down her cheeks, and she pressed her face into his neck, smiling brightly, “Why so many?”

 

Cupping her cheeks in his hands, and brushing away the moisture resting upon them, Marcus bent to kiss her before answering, “Isn’t it obvious? It is one heart for every year I have loved you.”

 

She stayed silent for a moment, taking in his response, before a giggle burst from her lips, her head shaking in amusement.

 

“Was that too cheesy?” he asked as she continued to laugh, his hand coming up to rub nervously at the back of his neck. Seeing his worried demeanor, Abby sobered slightly, and pressed closer to him, her arms around his neck.

 

“Oh no, it isn’t cheesy, in fact,” she leaned up even closer, “it is soooo romantic.” Then before he could say another word she closed the distance, and pressed her lips to his in a passionate kiss.


	2. Mistakes Maketh Monsters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An AU based on The Colonel's Lady. Marcus Kane, a colonel during the American revolution makes a dire mistake, and has to deal with the guilt of his actions.

_It was a foggy, cold morning in December when Colonel Kane stood beside his tent, staring out at the tree line before him. He and his men had been on this scouting trip for three weeks, as they tried to determine how much say the British had over the Indians residing in the area. So far they had come up with nothing that could help them in future battles, and Kane had decided that as soon as the latest scouting party returned they would head back to their fort. He would let his men enjoy Christmas before they returned to defending the Kentucky territory once more._

_He would later blame it on his nerves, and the fog, when he set eyes on a group of men approaching from the tree line. “Redcoats” he whispered as Miller stiffened beside him, and all at once his men had their guns at the ready. Before he could issue a command a shot rang out from the tree line, and as was protocol the men in his regiment fired back._

_It was only after the smoke cleared that Kane realized they had made an awful mistake._

~~~

He watched her dance around the fires that were lit within the walls of the fort, her long hair pulled back from her face, but allowed to flow down her back in a reddish brown waterfall. Flowers had been woven into her wild mane, flowers that were the perfect accents to the royal blue dress she was wearing. She was laughing heartily as she gripped the hands of her young daughter and twirled to the music being played by some of his men, while others cheered them on. As Kane watched them, his heart tightened, both from guilt and from joy. Abigail Griffin had been at the fort for three months now and it was so seldom that he ever saw her smile.

 

As he watched, the little cherub that was Clarke Griffin, broke away from her mother’s grasp and made a beeline right for him, her blue eyes dancing with merriment.

 

“Marcus! Dance with me!”

 

She held out her hands, and gave him a look that told him there was no room for argument, not that he would have given her one. It had become a joke around camp that the little seven-year-old had the usually stoic and unmoving colonel wrapped around her little finger. All she had to do was say jump, and he would ask her how high.

 

Tonight was no exception as Marcus reached out and took hold of her offered hand, and was immediately tugged towards the girl’s mother who stood slightly breathless by the fires.

 

“You don’t have to dance Colonel,” Abby offered, her smile shy.

 

“Ma’am, when a lady asks you to do something, it is quiet rude to say no.”

 

“That’s right mama!” Clarke admonished, before reaching up to indicate she wanted to be lifted. Marcus obliged her, and then shot an apologetic look at the woman before him.

 

“I must do what the lady requests.”

 

Then before he could get any further objections from Abby, he was twirling around in circles, the light child held tightly in his grip as he did an odd version of a waltz. Clarke flung her arms around his neck, and squealed urging him to move faster and faster as the crowd of soldiers cheered around them. Over the fray he could make out Abby’s hearty laugh and at one point he caught a glimpse of her smiling and clapping as she watched her daughter enjoy herself. The sight of her joy at his actions sent his gut twisting in a painful way, but he pushed the feeling aside and kept dancing, not wanting to alert Clarke to any distress he might feel.

 

All at once the music ended and panting from his exertions, Marcus moved to rejoin Abby, setting Clarke down beside her mother with a playful bow.

 

“I hope the lady enjoyed her waltz.”

 

The little girl giggled and tried her hand at a curtsy that was a little too clumsy, “I did kind sir, and now, if you would allow, I would like to tell you a secret.”

 

Marcus arched his brows at Abby who gave him a shrug, before he leaned close to Clarke and offered his ear. The girl snuck a glance at her mother, and then pressed close her breath tickling the skin of his neck, “I want you to be my new papa.”

 

All at once Marcus drew back, the air having been sucked from his lungs. He was barely aware of Abby’s startled look, or the hurt one on Clarke’s face as he stumbled away from them, and bee lined up the hill to the stone house that he called home. He was aware that both Griffins were calling for him, one in alarm and the other in dismay, but he did not stop his retreat.

 

He slammed through the door of his home, a large manor over looking the fort, and stormed up the stairs to his room where he immediately picked up the glass pitcher on his side table and slammed it into a wall. Then, his anger sated, he fell back against the door and slid to the ground, his hands running through his hair.

 

_“I want you to be my new papa.”_

 

The girl’s words, so innocent and unknowing, echoed through his brain causing tears to well in his eyes. It had been three months since the Griffin women turned up at the Kentucky fort, just two days before he returned from a scouting mission gone wrong. They had been trapped here by the harsh winter that had descended on the land, and forced to live daily with the reminder that Jake Griffin, husband and father, had died and left them alone. Three months that they slowly began to break from their grief and make friends with the women who helped keep the fort running. Three months of Abby worming her way into his heart with her soft smiles and kind ways; and three months of Clarke bewitching him with her large blue eyes and carefree spirit. Three months of them living near the very person who had caused them pain and they didn’t even realize it.

Sobbing, Marcus reached into his coat pocket and withdrew a pocket watch, unclasping it to look at the picture nestled inside. There staring up at him was Abby, her face serene as she cradled a one-year-old Clarke close to her chest.

 

_“Sir…please…make sure that my girls are cared for. Please.”_

The final words of Jake Griffin seemed to slam into Marcus as he clutched the watch tightly in his fist. The final words of a dying man, who knew he would never see his wife and daughter again. A dying man who had pushed the watch into his commander’s hand with a shaky grip, tears trailing down his cheeks.

 

_“Sir…please…make sure that my girls are cared for. Please.”_

Those were Jake’s final words. Before that he spoke of forgiveness, because he wanted Marcus to know he was forgiven. Forgiven for mistaking Jake and his troop of scouts as red coats. Forgiven for firing on the small group of men and for hitting Jake square in the chest. Forgiven for killing a man who had three weeks left before he was discharged.

 

Would Jake forgive him now, Marcus wondered, for falling in love with his widow and child? Would Jake forgive him for Clarke’s innocent statement, or the way Abby had been glancing at him as of late?

 

More importantly, if he were to tell Abby tomorrow the truth on her husband’s death, would he lose that look for good? That soft, loving look that warmed his very soul. Surely he would, because he was the monster that ripped her world apart, and he did not deserve her love. Just as Jake Griffin did not deserve to die.


	3. Monsters Revealed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sequel to Mistakes Maketh Monsters; Marcus reveals his secret to Abby

“What on earth got into you last night!?”

Marcus jumped slightly from his place at his desk, his eyebrows arching at the sudden appearance of Abby in his office. Gone was her carefree look of the previous night, her hair had been returned to its usual braid and her dress was a far less festive gingham. She was also absent her light hearted smiled, and was instead shooting daggers at him.

Trying to play innocent, Marcus set his quill down and leaned back in his chair, “Pardon?”

“Oh don’t give me that Kane,” she snapped, “my daughter has been tearful ever since you ran away from her. I don’t know what she said to you to upset you so, but she is only a little girl. Whatever it was, you should have handled it with more decorum.”

The guilt over Clarke’s upset, along with Abby’s chiding manner sent Marcus into the defensive, and he pushed back from his desk with a glare of his own.

“She wants me to be her new papa. Tell me Abigail, if you were in my place, how would you have reacted?”

Abby paled slightly, her hands wringing in distress as she processed his words. After a moment or two she stepped closer, her eyes shining with tears.

“Please Kane…Marcus…she is only a child. And her father, Jake…she didn’t really know him. She was one when he came here. Her grief, it is not…um…she is just longing for a papa to love her. I am sorry she made you uncomfortable, truly. I can talk to her, but please do not shun her. She admires you so much. I promise we will be out of your hair as soon as the weather is travel worthy, just please don’t break her heart.”

Marcus moved to the window of his office as she spoke, his gaze falling on the child in question as she sat at the feet of the fort’s laundress. She was handing Alice clothes pins as she hung sheets, and instead of the child’s usually sunny demeanor there was a cloud of gloominess that made him sick. A part of him wanted to go outside and scoop Clarke into his arms, he wanted to assure her he loved her, and would love to be her papa. Who wouldn’t want to be? Who wouldn’t want a happy, healthy child, or a beautiful caring wife? Any man would be lucky to have Abby and Clarke as their own, but it couldn’t be him.

“Abigail,” he sighed, “I am sorry I hurt her. I promise to be more accommodating to her feelings.”

“Wow,” Abby scoffed, “’accomodating to her feelings,’ that is big of you.”

He turned his gaze from the forlorn child and glared at her, growing irritated by her behavior, “What do you want from me?”

“I want to understand why you are acting this way. I get what she said was bothersome, but I would have thought…I mean…I am just shocked that you are so opposed, when you have seemed so-“

She broke off, and looked away, her hands brushing at invisible dust on her skirt.

“Have seemed so what?”

She glanced up at him, and then focused on a spot over his shoulder, “It is stupid, but I thought maybe you wanted what she asked of you.”

A bitter laugh left him, and all control left him as he strolled forward and gripped her by her arms, “And if that is what I wanted Abby? If I wanted to make that girl my child, and her mother my wife, what would you say to that?”

She blinked up at him with wide eyes, her lips parted in shock, “I know I shouldn’t, it is too soon, but I would accept.”

Groaning, Marcus dove forward and pressed his lips to hers, his hands gripping her waist with an eagerness that had been building for months. He was vaguely aware of her arms snaking up around his neck as she pressed against him and he moaned again. She was so sweet, and soft, and God help him, he never wanted to let her go. He wanted to take her across the yard to the clergyman so they could marry right away, he wanted to take her and Clarke up to his lonely house and fill it with love and laughter and a bundle of children. He wanted to-

Suddenly the smell of gun powder and cries of pain invaded his senses, and he stumbled back as his mind flashed to the blue eyes of a dying man. The man he killed, and whose widow he had just kissed with more passion than he had ever felt. He backed away from a panting Abby, his hand raking through his hair as he braced himself against his desk.

“Abby…we can’t do this…”

She moved forward, her gaze open and honest, “Why Marcus? I know it is too soon, I know it is not customary for a woman to fall in love so soon after being widowed...but, I see happiness when I look at you, and Jake would want-“

“Don’t speak about him!”

His snarled words halted her, and her eyes narrowed as she looked him over, “What has gotten into you? First last night, and now this?”

Shaking with nerves over what he was about to do, Marcus reached into his pocket and pulled out the pocket watch he had kept close to him for three months and held it out to Abby. She studied it for a moment, and then all at once recognition flashed across her features and she reached out to grab it. She said nothing as she cradled it in her hands; just shot him a questioning look.

“Jake, he gave it to me when he died.”

“Why…why didn’t you return it to me?”

He closed his eyes, too cowardly to look at her as he spoke, “I should’ve, but I needed it. It was a reminder of the man who gave it to me. A reminder of his death, and what it meant to me.”

“Do you have keepsakes of all the men who die under your command?”

“No,” he shook his head, trying to push back tears, “no, just the ones who die at my hand.”

All the air seemed to be sucked from the room at his confession, and there was a soft thud that had him opening his eyes. Abby stood before him as pale as a ghost, her trembling hands clasped over her mouth and Jake’s watch on the floor at her feet.

“What are you saying? You…you _killed_ him?”

“Not on purpose, not that it matters either way. There was fog, and his group emerged from the woods…and we thought they were attacking Red Coats. It wasn’t until they were all down that we realized our mistake.”

For a moment she was still, and he was almost afraid she was going to faint when she suddenly shot forward and slapped him across his face with enough force to have his head turning sharply.

“How dare you?” she hissed, “How could you look me in the eye every day and not tell me that you were the one who took my husband’s life? How could you play with his daughter, and be kind to his wife? What kind of monster does that?”

Her words had him flinching more than her slap had, and he looked at her beseeching, “Abby, I am so sor-“

“No!” she cried, backing up, “I can’t believe this. I was falling in love with you! I wanted to- God! This is unforgivable! Just stay away from me, and Clarke. Especially Clarke!”

Before he could say another word she was gone, and he was left standing in his cold office with nothing but her lingering scent and Jake’s fallen watch to signify she had even been there. Turning he glanced out the window and watched as Abby rushed to her child, scooping the confused girl up and running to their quarters, not even minding that everyone in the yard was seeing her distress.

As he watched her disappear into her cabin, he finally gave into his grief, seating himself at his desk once more as sobs overtook him.


	4. Reassurance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marcus worries over Bellamy, and thinks on the culling. Abby is there to talk him through his sad thoughts

Abby entered her office just as Bellamy was storming out of it, and for a moment she considered following after the red eyed boy; but the sight of Marcus sitting at his desk, his face distraught halted her. It wasn’t like her co-leader to let his emotions show so easily when anyone could see, and that was much more alarming than a grieving kid. Walking through the door, she shut it behind her and moved to place her hand on Marcus’ stiff shoulder, her eyes falling on the guard jacket that sat before him.

“What happened?”

“Bellamy wants to resign,” he sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face, “he blames himself for what happened at Mount Weather.”

“That is ridiculous, what happened was a very unfortunate and unpredictable circumstance.”

Marcus tipped back in his seat and studied the ceiling, “I get it though. I get his pain. He is looking at it from a ‘what if stand point.’ He is wondering what would have happened if he had been more cautious with the information he was given. He is wondering if his decision was worth it, given that her presence did save Raven or Sinclair. He is wondering all the different ways he could have done things if he had just known all the facts.”

The healer, the nurturer in Abby took over at the thought of the boy’s distress and she cast a glance at the closed door, “How do we help him?”

“We can’t really. We just have to be supportive, we have to let him know that he is not at fault,” Marcus fell silent for a moment and then shook his head scoffing, “You know, I was hoping being on the ground, having more options meant…I thought it meant that the younger generations wouldn’t be forced to deal with the regrets we have dealt with. That the ‘what ifs’ wouldn’t be so large.”

It didn’t take a genius to know he was referring to the culling, and Abby sighed as she moved forward towards the stricken man and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, bringing his head to rest against her stomach.

“I thought we were past this. What happened was not your fault.”

“How can that be so?” he asked his body relaxing into hers despite the tension in his voice.

“You played a part, yes, but you were not the only one. It was just a matter of circumstance. You and the council based your decision off of the facts. It is only really bad luck that you were a day early. You have to stop blaming yourself.”

“People still look at you like I am a monster.”

Abby ran her hands up to cup his face, her fingers sliding though his beard as she pulled him back and looked down at him, “Look at me. Do you feel like a monster when I look at you?”

Smiling sadly, Marcus shook his head, moving to lean into her touch, “Of course not, you have told me over and over you have forgiven me. Though I don’t know why.”

“Because you are a changed man Marcus, you have grown, and you have earned forgiveness. Just as I hope I have earned forgiveness for putting you in hard positions when we were in the sky.”

“That isn’t even a question.”

She smiled at his instant dismissal of her sins, and leaned down to kiss his forehead, “I also know that Raven, Octavia, Sinclair, Bellamy, Clarke, and many others do not look at you like a monster. They see and respect you as our leader.”

“I know,” he whispered, twining his arms around her waist to pull her close and using her as a pillow once more, “I am just feeling…I don’t know…like I have let Bellamy down somehow.”

“You haven’t. He is a grown man Marcus, and he made his decision. Unfortunately there is nothing that can be done to take the pain of his actions from him, but you can still help him.”

“How?”

Abby laughed at his petulant tone, and stroked his hair, “You are going to support him to the best of your ability. You are going to let him know that he has people he can talk to. Let him know the story of the culling that can let him know that he isn’t alone. Just…be there.”

“I can do that,” he said, pulling back and bringing one of her hands up to his lips.

 

And he could do that, Marcus realized as he followed Abby into the memorial service a few hours later and watched her reach out to embrace Bellamy, and then Raven. He had a good influence after all.


End file.
